UMIKO’s ‘Aftermath’ is the rock’n’roll album we’ve been waiting for

There is good chance that you’re hearing of UMIKO for the first time. Tomorrow the Vilnius-based foursome will release their first album as a full band. ‘Aftermath’ is too big to stay in Lithuania and here’s why.

The cover of the LP was made by Elena’s daughter Smiltė

UMIKO, one of the members of Music Export Fund, started off as a solo project of Elena Nenišytė from Kotori and Ministry of Echology. She quietly released an album in 2014 as UMIKO (Little Bird) which didn’t quite get the attention it deserved. In 2015 Elena did a show at Menų Spaustuvė with a full band supporting her for the first time. Now UMIKO is a four-piece group made of Elena, Paulius Vaškas (Sheep Got Waxed), Vytautas Narkevičius and Mantas Augustaitis (Chung Kran). Although foursome weren’t the most active in the past two years, last month it was announced they’ll be dropping their debut album named ‘Aftermath’ in April.

The band says that they’re not a real band but more of a collaboration of constantly experimenting professional musicians. Every member has a personal style that has its own space within the many layers of the tracks. It’s interesting to hear how each member brings in something of their own from previous projects.

One of the most interesting tracks of the LP is a 4-minute banger ‘Confucius’. Easily the heaviest track from ‘Aftermath’, ‘Confucius’ sounds like a single that could help UMIKO break into the international market.

The 10-track LP ends with ‘Trash Track’ – a 12-minute compilation of unused musical bits that leave you wanting for more. One of those, interestingly, is a sketch of a electronic dance track. ‘Aftermath’ is an album which should lead Lithuania’s underground scene for the next few years as ba.’s debut did in 2015. It’s a great 53-minute journey through everything from danceable guitar songs to ambient-like floating tracks. An instant favourite of the year.

The band will play only one show to celebrate the release of ‘Aftermath’. Make sure to catch it on April 5th at Peronas, Vilnius.